Published: Monday 12 February 2024
Our Housing Management team held its annual conference at the end of January, an opportunity for the whole team to get together and discuss the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead, and what we can improve on.
More than 500 colleagues attended the events which were held over two days. Our conferences are an important part of the calendar as they set the agenda for the year ahead and make sure everyone is on the same page.
A key focus this year was making improvements in how we serve residents and capitalising on the training we’ve had to help us do this. Using the staff conference to reinforce these messages helps us ensure we’re all pulling together to make a difference, and work together to identify further improvements we can make.
Training for staff - improvements to service
We looked back at the At The Heart training that every member of our housing team, from Director to frontline colleagues, took last year. At The Heart was delivered by the Mary Gober Institute, and looks at how our team communicates with residents, putting their needs ‘at the heart’ of our service and all we do. We hope residents will see the benefits of this training whenever they interact with any of our team.
Learning from other departments
To reinforce that cultural change we heard from Kati Maskell, from the Centre for Systemic Social Work, and Caroline Pipe from our Children’s Services department. They’ve been using a method of working called systemic practice and over the next three years, housing teams will be trained on that method. Systemic practice focuses on improving outcomes for residents by looking at how teams and departments work together.
Cllr Sof McVeigh, lead Member for Housing Management, Housing Safety and New Homes, said:
Communication and cooperation between departments was identified as a key issue to work on at last year's conference, and it’s only by doing this well that we can serve residents better. I’m pleased that training is big on the agenda – as Grenfell Testimony week has shown, we still have a way to go to make sure we’re delivering the services we promised to our residents, and this shows our journey to cultural change is underway.
Positive about change
Change was also on the agenda – in Housing there are new regulations coming into force in April and we will be inspected and audited on our performance by the Government.
To help us look ahead at what that means, the team welcomed Alistair McIntosh from the Housing Quality Network. Alistair identified some of the good work we are already doing, and some areas for improvement, particularly around being quick to respond, focusing on customer service, and working as a team.
The attendees took part in several exercises looking at how we deal with change, and communicate about the need for change, and the reasons behind it. The department will look at the results of the exercise and build on them to make sure we’re well placed to face inspection next year.
Recognising good work
The event closed with the staff awards highlighting those members of the team who go the extra mile for residents. One stand out award went to a member of staff who challenged the Government’s green levy, resulting in bringing in more than £1m to help residents with heating bills.
